Memorial

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Pfc John R. Lally graduated from St Mary's College High School in 1942.

He enlisted in San Francisco, California on 19 January 1943. He was selected for the ASTP program and studied at the University of Dayton.

From a letter by Pfc Joseph Inhoff:
"Your son John and I were very good friends ever since we both came into the army. We were together in Alabama, Kentucky, Columbus and Dayton, and only in Texas were we put in different companies but we still kept in contact with each other. While in a hospital in Belgium some one had told me how John was killed. This fellow told me he and another buddy of ours, Glen Colbert, were killed in the same foxhole by a German hand grenade. It made me feel very bad as both were good buddies of mine. I saw John once while we were in combat. That one time exemplified what courage and bravery and strength he possessed. He was carrying our Battalion Commander, who was about the size of John around his neck. The Colonel had been overcome with exhaustion. If the story I have heard about John's death is correct I know I can't realize what grief you as a mother are suffering. But I would like to tell you that with John died a courageous and brave American and above all a good Catholic."